Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on 2nd October 1869, in Porbandar, Gujarat. He got married to Kasturba at the age of 13 and had four sons. He got a degree in law from the University of London. He went to South Africa on a contract job offer from Dada Abdullah and Co. for legal practice. He was disappointed by the racial discrimination prevalent in South Africa. Young Gandhi was going to Pretoria for a legal case on June 7, 1893, when a white man objected his presence in the first-class coach as it was for Europeans. He refused to go to third-class coach as he had a valid first-class ticket. On hearing this, the white man thew him out of the train. He returned to India and became an active participant of the Indian National Congress (INC).

In 1919, the British government passed the Rowlatt Act. According to it, the government had the authority to arrest people and imprison them without any trial. The Rowlatt Act came to be known as 'Black Act' as this Act gave the British Government the power to stop the newspapers from reporting and printing news. The act caused an outrage. Gandhiji and the INC called for a nationwide hartal, urging Indians to stop all business with the government. Gandhiji launched the Satyagrah Movement which promoted non-violence and non-cooperation with the British.

The agitation against the Rowlatt Act spread across the country. But in Punjab, it had reached heights. The General Dyer had banned all public meetings in Amritsar. However, a public meeting was held on 13 April 1919 at the Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar to mark a peaceful protest. Dyer ordered his troops to open fire at the gathering while blocking the single exit. As a result, about 400 people were killed and 1,200 people were wounded in the massacre. Shocked by this brutal act, Mahatma Gandhi launched the Non-Cooperation Movement across the country that adopted non-violent means to retaliate against the actions the actions of The British Government. Students were withdrawn from government schools and colleges, people stopped attending government office and surrendered their posts and titles given by The British Raj.

Indians boycotted foreign-made clothes and products. As part of the struggle for independence, Gandhiji appealed to all Indians to spend some time each day spinning khadi and using only home-spun clothes. Rabindranath Tagore, noted poet, novelist, educator and an advocate of independence for India, returned the knighthood bestowed on him by the British Raj in 1915, as a mark of protest against the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. He alse wrote the national anthem of India and Bangladesh.

The non-violent movement tragically turned violent in 1922, at Chauri Chaura, in Utaar Pradesh. Gandhiji called off the Non-Cooperation Movement after people burnt down a police station in Chauri Chaura as a reation to the firing by the British on a procession of farmers. Gandhiji was arrested on 10 March 1922 and sent to prison. The INC continued to protest against the British. Revolutionaries, such as Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad, and Bipin Chandra Pal, became martyrs in this struggle.  

In 1928 the British Government invited Sir John Simon to look into Indian constitutional matters and to bring about reforms in India under the British regime. The commission was boycotted by the INC as there were no Indians amongst the seven members of the deciding committee. The Simon Commission created displeasure amongst the Indians and black flags were raised in protest all over the country. A prominent leader of the INC, Lala Lajpat Rai, was injured in one of the protests against the Simon Commission. He later succumbed to his injuries but died. The Simon Commission eventually failed.